In fact it's doing so well that the company plans to release at least two new form factors next year, including a 10-inch version.

Product manager Chuck Fontana explained that 1,000 companies have already bought the tablet, which just launched in August. He wouldn't share device unit sales, but some deployments are in the hundreds, and one company plans to buy 1,500 for its sales force.

But underneath they're straight Android tablets, and can run any Android app. To prevent employees from downloading malware-infested or low-quality apps, Cisco has rolled out a custom app store called AppHQ, where every app is vetted.

It's an interesting demonstration of how the relative openness of Android versus iOS is helping it gain traction in surprising places. Cisco didn't go to quite the lengths that Amazon did with the Kindle Fire, where it basically forked Android and created a custom OS. But Android is open enough that Cisco could build its own app store and ship it with its own apps front and center.

That couldn't have worked with the iPad, where Apple controls the experience.